April 6, 2006

Couric Announces Departure From 'Today' Show

By BILL CARTER

NBC

Katie Couric announced today that she will leave NBC when her contract concludes at the end of next month.

Katie Couric, the most successful host in the more than 50-year history of NBC's "Today" show, told her audience of more than 6 million viewers this morning that she will step down from the program and leave NBC when her contract concludes at the end of next month.

Ms. Couric announced formally what has been predicted for several months, that she will jump to CBS, where she will become the first woman ever to lead an evening newscast on her own. CBS confirmed today that Ms. Couric will be anchor and managing editor of "The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" beginning in September. She will also contribute to the network's venerable newsmagazine program "60 Minutes."

"I'm personally so excited that Katie Couric is coming to the CBS News family," said Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive of CBS Corporation. "With this move, our news division takes yet another giant leap forward."

Ms. Couric, whose 15-year tenure as host of "Today" was celebrated this morning — the anniversary of her first morning as co-host of the program — with a clip of her first appearance on the show in 1991 with then-partner Bryant Gumbel, told the audience of her plans, saying, "after listening to my heart and my gut, two things that have served me pretty well in the past, I've decided I'll be leaving 'Today' at the end of May."

Ms. Coruic described it as a "really difficult decision" first, because of the relationship she had established with the "Today" audience, which she said had "been with me through a lot of good times and some very difficult ones."

She also said the decision to leave was complicated by her strong friendships with the people of NBC, the "Today" staff and especially her on-camera partners, Al Roker, Ann Curry and her co-anchor, Matt Lauer, of whom she said, "Once in awhile we get on each other's nerves." She then joked, "Well, he gets on my nerves," before she said she could not have had a better partner or friend.

After her statement to the audience, Mr. Lauer said he would ask any guest the next question: where was she going? And Ms. Couric confirmed that, as the widespread coverage of the past week had indicated, she would be joining CBS to lead the evening newscast and work on "60 Minutes."

No mention was made of her successor, but NBC has nearly concluded an agreement with Meredith Vieira of ABC to replace Ms. Couric.

Under the terms of the deal, which was expected to be resolved by week's end, Ms. Vieira would sign a four-year contract worth at least $10 million a year and would take up her morning assignment on NBC just after Labor Day, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations were continuing.

For Ms. Couric, leaving the morning, where she has thrived, leading "Today" during the longest run of success the program has ever enjoyed — it has finished first in the morning competition every week for more than 10 years — will certainly carry risks. She has thrived in the morning format, where her skills at moving between interviews with newsmakers and lighter segments, like interaction with celebrities and cooking and fashion features, have fueled her success.

At CBS, she will take over a newscast that has perennially finished in last place, though in recent months it has shown signs of rejuvenation under the anchor Bob Schieffer, who took the post temporarily after Dan Rather stepped down.

The evening newscasts have for some time been programs in decline at all three networks, with audiences that have grown markedly older. But Mr. Moonves aggressively wooed Ms. Couric for more than a year, convinced that the enormous name recognition she had gained over the years at "Today," along with her experience at leading a news program, would finally make CBS more competitive in the evenings — as well as during periods of breaking news when she will again lead CBS's coverage.

She will be the first woman to take that position, the on-camera face of the network's news division. Colleagues of Ms. Couric have said that this opportunity, more than any financial inducements, were what persuaded her, with considerable reluctance, to leave NBC and "Today." Ms. Couric has remained close to many colleagues at the network, especially its chief executive Jeff Zucker, who was the "Today" executive producer when the program established its complete dominance of the morning in the mid-1990's.

As for her possible successor, Ms. Vieira would leave her position as co-host of the talk show "The View" on ABC when her contract ends this summer, but she and NBC have yet to resolve whether she would fulfill the two years that remain on her contract to be the host of the syndicated game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." That program is produced partly by Buena Vista Television, which, like ABC, is owned by the Walt Disney Company.

The person with knowledge of the negotiations said that NBC had not ruled out permitting Ms. Vieira to begin her duties on "Today" while still continuing as host of "Millionaire."

Though the individual with knowledge of the negotiations said that there was a "strong possibility" that an agreement with Ms. Vieira would be struck over the next few days, no announcement is considered imminent.

Ms. Vieira's agent, Michael Glantz, did not immediately respond to a message left yesterday afternoon at his office. A "Today" show spokeswoman, Lauren Kapp, said she had no comment.

Ms. Vieira, 52, emerged earlier this year as the best-known candidate under consideration to replace Ms. Couric, who has been with "Today" for 15 years, a period in which it has dominated its closest competitor, "Good Morning America" on ABC. After beginning her career as a local television news reporter in the mid-1970's, Ms. Vieira went on to high-profile assignments at CBS News (including "60 Minutes") and later ABC News (the magazine "Turning Point"). Since 1997, she has, along with Barbara Walters, Joy Behar and Star Jones Reynolds, been a co-host of "The View," a freewheeling, sometimes raucous late-morning talk show produced by Ms. Walters and ABC's daytime entertainment division.

Should it indeed come to terms with Ms. Vieira to replace Ms. Couric, NBC would bypass three internal candidates. One, Ann Curry, who signed a long-term contract last year to be the co-anchor of the prime-time newsmagazine "Dateline," is expected to remain with "Today" as its news reader. Natalie Morales, a correspondent and fill-in anchor on "Today," also recently signed a longer-term contract with the network.

It is not yet known how the arrival of Ms. Vieira would affect the future of Campbell Brown, co-anchor of the weekend edition of "Today" and the primary correspondent for "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams." While Ms. Brown would be expected to continue on "Weekend Today" and to serve as the main substitute for Mr. Williams and Ms. Vieira, she is also likely to receive offers from other networks when her contract expires, as soon as next year. Ms. Brown was married on Sunday to Dan Senor, a Fox News analyst, and is on a honeymoon this week.